Canadian No.2 Denis Shapovalov is confident about his current form heading into the US Open despite his lacklustre results in recent months.
The world No.38 has endured a roller coaster season with a win-loss record of 18-18 so far. His best performance of the year took place back in March at the Miami Open where Shapovalov reached the semi-finals before falling to Roger Federer in straight sets. The third time he reached the last four of a masters tournament.
Shapovalov is hoping to gain momentum this week after accepting a wild card into the Winston-Salem Open ahead of the final grand slam of 2019. He is seeded second in the tournament after France’s Benoit Paire.
“I think (my game) is at a good level,” Shapovalov told reporters on Tuesday. “I think I’ve been playing really well all season. I think more I’ve been struggling mentally, but I feel really fresh right now and ready for tough situations like the second set today. So yeah, I feel pretty confident looking forward to my next match, and of course, the U.S. Open.”
The 20-year-old, who is the fourth youngest player in the current top 100, has got off to a winning start in Winston-Salem. In his opening match he disposed of former Australian Open quarter-finalist Tennys Sandgren 6-2, 6-4. Overcoming a wobble midway through the second set when he was broken two times in a row.
“Definitely a great win for me,” Shapovalov said. “Obviously playing Tennys is tough. I’ve played him a couple times in the past and they’ve been good matches. Normally I played really well against him, so it was kind of similar today. I was trying to take time away, play pretty aggressive and I think I did a good job in the second set when he was coming back to kind of just stay calm.”
A former world No.2 in the juniors, Shaspovalov has become one of the most talked about rising stars of the men’s game. In 2017, he became the youngest player to break into the top 50 since Rafael Nadal. It was during that breakout year where the Canadian also reached the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup and the fourth round of the US Open.
However, since those achievements, it hasn’t all been plain-sailing. Shapovalov is yet to contest a final on the ATP Tour and has only won two out of his previous 13 meetings against top 10 players.
“It’s been difficult,” Shapovalov commented about his journey. “I really jumped high quickly. I beat some top players at the beginning of my career. I don’t know if it’s given me the best opportunity to grow into the player I want to be. But that being said, it was important for me to take a step back after Europe (this year) and just think about what’s different, what’s going on because in practices I was able to beat the top players and I’ve been playing well all season.”
Shapovalov’s latest win ends his three-month run of failing to reach a tournament quarter-final. He will next play Serbian rising star Miomir Kecmanović, who stunned Alexander Zverev last week in Cincinnati. Kecmanović defeated Alexei Popyrin 7-6(5), 6-3, in his second round match.
